In Sales you Cannot Afford to be a Victim

Victim mentality is one of the most frustrating things in the world to me. I can’t understand when agents blame anything and everything but themselves for their lack of success.?

They will blame lead vendors, carriers, products, when a carrier’s e-app is down, and any other minute inconvenience you can think of.?

The questions I ask are, “Even if something else was at fault, you can’t control that piece of it so what could you have done to change the situation? Either in advance or in the moment?”?

There is always something that we can control in a given situation, so why do some agents refuse to identify that and own it??

For example, let’s say an agent got a bad batch of leads and they spent $500 this week, but didn’t make any money and their bills are due. They’re pissed at the lead vendor.?

In this situation, the agent got himself or herself to a point where they’re worried about $500. Why did they allow themselves to be in that position??

If they had already made a few thousand dollars this month they would not have to worry about that one bad batch of leads.

My best advice is to be careful of your words and how you internalize them. We can all express our frustrations in the moment, but need to catch ourselves before becoming a victim.?

To help change your mindset, you need to allow people to tell you when you’re out of line. Have people that you trust in your personal and professional lives who are able to give you a reality check.?

An interesting dynamic I see specifically within agencies is that agents are always watching and adopting the attitude of the agency owner.?

As a selling agency owner, your agents will probably sell half of what you do. If you are constantly walking around the office complaining about X, Y, and Z stopping you from selling more, then your agents will absorb that and take it to the next level to find even more excuses why they’re not selling more.

Your agents will feel the victim mentality twice as strongly as you do because if they think you’re a significantly stronger selling machine, but you’re being impacted by bad lead vendors, then it must be even worse for them as less experienced agents.?

Others are watching you, so you need to learn a level of control over your frustration.

I’m still imperfect in 9,000 different ways in this regard, but I’ve learned to catch it, own it, and move on because I know my agents are taking in how I act and react like sponges.?

Now let me be extremely clear, the solution here for any agent or agency owner is not to give up.?

I’ve seen agents have a bad dial session and then decide to just stop dialing as if that will solve the problem.?

My questions with this are, “You haven’t been having success with dials and booking appointments, so your solution is to stop attempting? Is this really your best game plan?”

I can absolutely guarantee you won’t be making any more money than you were before.??

Antonio Brown, if you’re not familiar, is a wide receiver in the NFL who made headlines by walking off the field halfway through a game and refusing to come back. He was supposed to be a leader, but gave up because of frustration and ego. Imagine how that affects team morale and, obviously, performance.?

Even if you don’t have a team, don’t be Antonio Brown in your business and walk off the field. Stick with it.?

Get over yourself, be a professional, and learn to control the things you can control.

Read my full blog post about this if you want more information: https://johnwetmore.com/the-truth-about-being-an-insurance-agent/